Not happy, Jan!

"Not happy, Jan!" was a line delivered by actress Deborah Kennedy in an Australian television advertisement from the year 2000. Due to the ad's popularity in Australia, the line entered the cultural vernacular as a catch phrase used to express a feeling of discontent.

The television commercial from which the phrase originated was created by advertising agency Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Sensis (the directories arm of Telstra), to promote the upcoming deadline for advertising in Australia's Yellow Pages. In the commercial, a businesswoman (Kennedy) has just discovered that one of her staff has neglected to book an ad in the upcoming year's Yellow Pages. Realising they will have to wait another year, she calmly goes through some anger management techniques. When Jan runs away from work, Kennedy's unnamed character talks to herself and counts to ten before opening the window and shouting "Not happy, Jan!" towards the fleeing figure of Jan. The phrase was coined by Kennedy on the day of shooting. The ads ended up becoming lucrative for Australia's Yellow Pages, appearing on television from 2000 to 2003.[1]

Since the advertisement, "Not happy, Jan" has entered the Australian vernacular to express displeasure, particularly at a problem caused by another's negligence or incompetence. In the time immediately following the advertisement, it was usually said in a manner which mimicked the advertisement, but today is usually spoken with a casual, slightly stern tone. Women named Jan were particularly targeted.